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from the work-like-a-dog-/-fingers-to-the-bone-/-nose-to-the-grindstone dept.
Mary’s story looks different to different people. Within the ghoulishly cheerful Lyft public-relations machinery, Mary is an exemplar of hard work and dedication—the latter being, perhaps, hard to come by in a company that refuses to classify its drivers as employees. Mary’s entrepreneurial spirit—taking ride requests while she was in labor!—is an “exciting” example of how seamless and flexible app-based employment can be. Look at that hustle! You can make a quick buck with Lyft anytime, even when your cervix is dilating.
[...] It does require a fairly dystopian strain of doublethink for a company to celebrate how hard and how constantly its employees must work to make a living, given that these companies are themselves setting the terms. And yet this type of faux-inspirational tale has been appearing more lately, both in corporate advertising and in the news. Fiverr, an online freelance marketplace that promotes itself as being for “the lean entrepreneur”—as its name suggests, services advertised on Fiverr can be purchased for as low as five dollars—recently attracted ire for an ad campaign called “In Doers We Trust.” One ad, prominently displayed on some New York City subway cars, features a woman staring at the camera with a look of blank determination. “You eat a coffee for lunch,” the ad proclaims. “You follow through on your follow through. Sleep deprivation is your drug of choice. You might be a doer.”
[...] At the root of this is the American obsession with self-reliance, which makes it more acceptable to applaud an individual for working himself to death than to argue that an individual working himself to death is evidence of a flawed economic system. The contrast between the gig economy’s rhetoric (everyone is always connecting, having fun, and killing it!) and the conditions that allow it to exist (a lack of dependable employment that pays a living wage) makes this kink in our thinking especially clear. Human-interest stories about the beauty of some person standing up to the punishments of late capitalism are regular features in the news, too. I’ve come to detest the local-news set piece about the man who walks ten or eleven or twelve miles to work—a story that’s been filed from Oxford, Alabama; from Detroit, Michigan; from Plano, Texas. The story is always written as a tearjerker, with praise for the person’s uncomplaining attitude; a car is usually donated to the subject in the end. Never mentioned or even implied is the shamefulness of a job that doesn’t permit a worker to afford his own commute.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 24 2017, @04:45PM (3 children)
Yes, but if you don't pay people what they need to survive then you're a shortsighted psychopath.
If you need work fine badly enough to pay somebody for it, then you need it don't badly enough to pay a wage that at least covers room, board, medical care and a minimal vacation time. That's the bare minimum compensation for employees.
That's what happens in every other developed country. Including places where businesses are doing well. They just don't expect to get rich off virtual slave labor.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Zz9zZ on Friday March 24 2017, @05:45PM
Did you not hear him? "Fuck empathy". His mindset is 100% the reason the US is failing, and I'm sure he can't see past his own nose but it is why corporations globalized and are bringing in H1Bs. If we all boil down to a spreadsheet then why stop at just one human rights violation? He is only capable of seeing his own narrow world view where hard work lets anyone be successful, and there are zero barriers to entry aside from "know what you're doing".
TNMB: The Narrow Minded Buzzard
~Tilting at windmills~
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday March 26 2017, @10:43AM (1 child)
Yes, but if you don't pay people what they need to survive then you're a shortsighted psychopath.
Welcome to the real world, where unicorns and pixie dust is not always the optimal solution.
If you need work fine badly enough to pay somebody for it, then you need it don't badly enough to pay a wage that at least covers room, board, medical care and a minimal vacation time. That's the bare minimum compensation for employees.
Ah yes, the ugly "we didn't need those jobs anyway" approach. If someone is desperate enough to work for so little, then we're going to kick them out of a job and starve 'em. That'll show everyone how much we CARE.
Who again is the psychopath?
That's what happens in every other developed country. Including places where businesses are doing well. They just don't expect to get rich off virtual slave labor.
Boy, I hope not. Else they won't stay civilized for long!
And heh, "including places where businesses are doing well".
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday March 27 2017, @09:59AM
If you need work fine badly enough to pay somebody for it, then you need it don't badly enough to pay a wage that at least covers room, board, medical care and a minimal vacation time. That's the bare minimum compensation for employees.
Ah yes, the ugly "we didn't need those jobs anyway" approach. If someone is desperate enough to work for so little, then we're going to kick them out of a job and starve 'em. That'll show everyone how much we CARE.
I got a little ahead of myself. First would come the argument that Boss Buzz would easily be able to afford whatever costs you feel like throwing on top of the "bare minimum compensation". We can't trust Boss Buzz to do even the slightest thing right - except cover the costs of your fantasies. That's a remarkably skewed trust there.
Then of course, when someone points out Boss Buzz probably can't afford your fantasies, despite your breezy assertions that he's good for it, then comes the "we didn't want those jobs anyway" argument.